A Guide To Retreat is designed to assist you in a time of reflection, prayer, and renewal. The resources included are intended to help you turn more fully towards God, to drink more deeply of God, and to prepare you for faithful ministry. The author examines facing the desert times in our lives, explores personal identity and its meaning in ministry, and much more. A book for conducting one's own ministerial/spiritual retreat, facing such concerns as "When All I Hear is Silence," "The Tension Between Doing and Being," and "Who Really Calls and Sends?"

A compilation of scripture, prayers and spiritual readings, this inexhaustible resource contains thematically arranged material for each week of the year and for monthly personal retreats. Its contents have made it a sought-after desk reference, a valuable library resource, and a cherished companion. Includes excerpts from such writers as Thomas Merton, Evelyn Underhill, Albert Schweitzer, Eugene Peterson, Esther de Waal, Thérèse of Lisieux, and many others.

A personal retreat. We've never needed it more. We run from one place to the next--from meetings and appointments to our kid's soccer practice, from class to work to choir rehearsal, from the grocery store to small group--and then drop into bed later than we hoped, exhausted and dreading the morning. We want to slow down but don't know how and don't really believe that we can. And often, the idea of a personal retreat--time for solitude and silence--makes us feel as anxious as all our frenzied rushing. What in the world would we do with an hour, an afternoon or (gulp!) a whole day of solitude with God? But what is the cost of our frantic pace? What are we missing by not slowing down for reflection and meditation on Scripture? What kind of toll does our anxious running take on those around us--and, even more deeply, on our own soul? In Resting Place, retreat speaker Jane Rubietta addresses soul matters with retreat topics such as dealing with our fear of abandonment, wrestling with discontent, overcoming our attempts to control others and fulfilling our deep desire to be loved. These retreats help us enter Psalm 23 rest, a place of true rest and trust in our loving, gentle Shepherd. Full of quotes to contemplate, Scripture to meditate on, questions, prayer and journaling ideas, and ideas for creativity, Jane Rubietta leads us to and through times of silence and solitude that will follow us into our everyday world as we learn to allow Jesus to guide, comfort and restore us. Come to the Shepherd, and find the true rest your soul is longing for.

What would it be like to live without fear? Join renowned philosopher Dallas Willard as he shares the biblically-backed secret to living with true contentment, peace, and security. In Life Without Lack, Dallas Willard revolutionizes our understanding of Psalm 23 by taking this comfortably familiar passage and revealing its extraordinary promises: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want...Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." Written with Willard's characteristic gentle wisdom, Life Without Lack helps you experience: God's comforting presence God's abundant generosity Peace and freedom from worry Based on a series of talks by the late author and edited by his friend Larry Burtoft and by his daughter, Rebecca Willard Heatley, Life Without Lack will forever change the way you experience the most well-known passage in all of Scripture. Praise for Life Without Lack: "Dallas Willard helps us to understand that the Twenty-Third Psalm is not meant as a nice sentiment or for kitschy decor, it is for the very thick of our lives, the very moment of crisis. Imagine what our personal lives, families, communities, and politics would look like if we rejected the frantic striving of our day, and instead embraced the life without lack offered to us in Jesus Christ. No one has helped me to imagine and enter into that life more than Dallas Willard. I recommend this book with great joy and hopeful expectation." --Michael Wear, bestselling author of Reclaiming Hope

Becoming a Praying Congregation is designed to help leaders teach, inspire and example deeper prayer life for the entire congregation through worship, study, ministry teams and individual devotion. Using ideas and examples from congregations with active prayer ministries, leaders will be inspired to develop deeper prayer practices in: worship decision-making groups prayer ministry team age-level classes households Rueben Job's When You Pray can be used as a daily devotional for individuals and small groups participating in the program.

Sacred Pathways reveals nine distinct spiritual temperaments--and their strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies--to help you improve your spiritual life and deepen your personal walk with God. It's time to strip away the frustration of a one-size-fits-all spirituality and discover a path of worship that frees you to be you. Experienced spiritual directors, pastors, and church leaders recognize that all of us engage with God differently, and it's about time we do too. In this updated and expanded edition of Sacred Pathways, Gary Thomas details nine spiritual temperaments and--like the Enneagram and other tools do with personality--encourages you to investigate the ways you most naturally express yourself in your relationship with God. He encourages you to dig into the traits, strengths, and pitfalls in your devotional approach so you can eliminate the barriers that keep you locked into rigid methods of worship and praise. Plus, as you begin to identify and understand your own temperament, you'll soon learn about the temperaments that aren't necessarily "you" but that may help you understand the spiritual tendencies of friends, family, and others around you. Whatever temperament or blend of temperaments best describes you, rest assured it's not by accident. It's by the design of a Creator who knew what he was doing when he made you according to his own unique intentions. If your spiritual walk is not what you'd like it to be, you can change that, starting here. Sacred Pathways will show you the route you were made to travel, marked by growth and filled with the riches of a close walk with God. A Sacred Pathways video Bible study is also available for group or individual use, sold separately.

This book, the fourth in The Upper Room’s bestselling “Guide to Prayer” series, offers a simple pattern of daily prayer built around weekly themes and organized by the Christian church year. Each week follows this pattern: Affirmation Psalm Psalm Prayer Daily Scripture Readings Silence Daily Reading Reflection (Silent or Written) Prayers Offering of Self to God Blessing The daily readings are drawn from the history of Christian spirituality and feature such writers as Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Henri J. M. Nouwen, Sue Monk Kidd, Douglas Steere, Jan Richardson, Trevor Hudson, Wendy M. Wright, and many others. Beautifully bound in a leather-like cover, A Guide to Prayer for All Who Walk with God makes a perfect gift and a reliable companion for anyone seeking to deepen a steady life of prayer.